Growing Old Together
by WritingDistractions
Summary: The Swap fanfiction: "Okay, how about we make a pact," he offered. "If neither of us are married by the time we're thirty, we'll marry each other." "I'm not that desperate." Ellie talks about a small fear of hers and Jack has a solution. Fluff, fluff, and fluff. Okay, it's entirely fluff.


**I watched the Swap last night and I actually loved it. It reminded me a lot of old dcoms and it just made me really happy, so I wrote some brotp fluff of Jack and Ellie (could be seen as romantic if you squint). Anyway I just figured I'd get the ball rolling on the Swap fanfiction so here ya go. I'll probably write some more drabbles cause I love Jack and Ellie's dynamic. Enjoy!**

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Jack and Ellie were an interesting pair of friends. People always wondered how two people, so completely different, could possibly be friends. Jack and Ellie could never really answer them. What were they supposed to say? Oh yeah, we swapped bodies for a few days and then became best friends, no big deal. No one would believe them anyway. So, if anyone asked, they always explained that sometimes people are more similar than one would think, and the differences they have make their friendship stronger.

Since the two's body-swapping weekend, they were inseparable. The entire school was completely bewildered when popular-cool-guy Jack Malloy and Sassy's-clingy-friend Ellie O'brien suddenly became as close as siblings out of nowhere. Of course the two still had their other friends, but they were always second to each other. Ellie never hung out with Sassy outside of rhythmic gymnastics practice, and she was now very close with Mackenzie. Jack still had all of his friends (he wasn't very close with any of them besides Owen, though) and Porter too. Sometime after "the swap" their friends meshed together and formed a small rag-tag group of randoms. Neither Jack nor Ellie would trade their group for anything.

There was also the matter of their parents. After Ellie and Jack introduced them to each other, they hit it off right away. They were still labeled as friends (honestly, why couldn't they get together already?), but Ellie continued to tell Jack that it wouldn't be long before his dad finally musters up the courage to ask Summer out. They see each other often; Jack practically lives at Ellie's house after all. He could only take so many fart wars and bro piles a week, so most weekends he stayed at Ellie's house. This only happened once Ellie's mom got used to the idea that a boy and a girl can hang out and not have any romantic feelings for each other. It took her nearly three months before she accepted that their relationship was strictly platonic and Jack could spend the night. And as for Ellie's relationship with the Malloys, she had gone on far too many morning workouts with them to not be considered family. Ellie is convinced it won't take long until their two families are officially one. (Jack has his doubts. Their parents have known each other for almost a year. His dad may never make a move.)

It was almost a year after "the swap". Jack and Ellie were now officially juniors and the stress of school had doubled along with the stress of their sports teams. It was difficult for them to hang out as often as they used to. Ellie was staying the night at the Malloys; her mom said that Jack was always welcome, but Ellie kind of missed his smelly brothers and loud house so she told her mom to have the night to herself. Jack was probably more upset than Summer when Ellie decided to spend the night at his own house. Ellie rolled her eyes as he listed off the things that could go wrong, "You could get a facefull of sweaty armpit again! Do you really want to relive that?" She enjoyed the chaos. It was very different from her tranquil, hippie home life with her mom.

There was also the fact that she just got stood up on a date she was really looking forward to and she needed a break from her mom trying to help in her love life. Sometimes she just needed the advice of a brother. Jack was the closest thing to a brother that she would ever have.

Gunner was the one who answered the door for Ellie.

"Oh hey Ellie, it's been a while. I was starting to think you didn't like us anymore," the twin teased, opening the door wider to invite her in.

"As if I could ever dislike you and your delightful farts," she tossed back, entering the house.

"Jack-o! Ellie's here!" He called up the staircase.

"Be right there!" Ellie heard from upstairs.

Gunner led her farther into the house, to the kitchen. He grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and filled both with water, knowing that Ellie would decline if he asked "want anything to drink?" because she's annoyingly polite. He began automatically giving her snacks anytime she was around their house. Gunner slid her a glass across the counter.

"Hey, where's Stryker?"

"Dad took him out to see a hockey game tonight. You know how he likes to spend time with each of us separately from time to time," Gunner explained. "So he left me in charge of you kiddos tonight."

Ellie nodded, understanding.

"So, how's school?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Fine," Ellie replied, sipping from her glass. "How's college?"

"Fine," Gunner smirked.

"Hey, El," Jack greeted, appearing around the corner, making his way toward the kitchen. He noticed Gunner leaning across the counter opposite of her, smirking. "Please tell me you haven't farted in front of her yet."

"Hey! I am a gentleman," Gunner defended, "I wait until she's been here at least an hour."

"Yeah, _now_ you do," Jack muttered.

Gunner scowled and grabbed him, pulling Jack into a headlock and ruffling his hair. Jack fought his way out of his brother's grip and straightened himself.

"That's right. Just cause you've grown a few inches doesn't mean I still can't give you a noogie," Gunner said proudly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Jack rolled his eyes. It was true, Jack had finally passed Ellie's height (only by an inch, but he was still ecstatic about it) and was almost as tall as Gunner but not quite as tall as Stryker. "Come on, Ellie."

Ellie, who sat grinning at the two, acknowledged the cue to leave with Jack and turned to follow him.

"No shenanigans up there, you two! I would hate for you to take advantage of Ellie, Jack-o!" Gunner called as Ellie followed Jack upstairs.

"You're the worst!" Jack called back without any hurtful intention. They two both knew he was only teasing. He saw Ellie as a sister too.

Ellie chuckled as they entered his room. "I've missed it here. Feels like I haven't been around in forever."

She plopped down onto Jack's bed, toeing her shoes off.

"So, what'll be? Marvel or Star Wars?" Jack asked as he grabbed his laptop. He jumped onto the bed beside Ellie, obnoxiously flopping around the blankets, attempting to get himself underneath them without using the hands still holding his laptop. After nearly a minute of Jack struggling he was finally situated and used one hand to pull the blankets back up.

"Okay, chill over there," she told him as she too climbed under the covers (with much less struggling). "And Star Wars."

"That was a test! We marathoned Star Wars last time, so we're not watching it again and you failed," Jack explained as he opened the laptop and started it up.

"Come on! They're my favorite!" she complained, crossing her arms.

"Yeah well, Marvel movies are my favorite, so it sucks to be you tonight."

Ellie shoved him in the shoulder.

They made it halfway through the first Captain America movie before Ellie decided to tell Jack the real reason she wanted to spend the night at his house.

"Hey, Jack?" she asked softly, lifting her head off his shoulder.

"Hm?"

"I, uh, I kinda wanna talk about something."

"What's up?" Jack pushed himself into a sitting position and turned to look at Ellie.

"It's kinda dumb," she trailed off.

"You called me in the middle of the night last week because you forgot to wear your retainer and you were terrified your teeth would become crooked," he gave her a pointed look. "It can't be dumber than _that_."

"That was scary! I'd never forgotten before! What? Don't look at me like that. Okay fine, anyway, I just wanted to ask, when was the last time you went on a date?"

Jack thought for a moment, "I don't know, a while ago I guess."

Ellie sighed. "Well, I went on one recently, but I got stood up."

"What? Why would anyone stand you up?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"I don't know! If I did I wouldn't be talking to you about it right now!" Ellie said frustrated. Jack remained quiet.

"I've been stood up twice now in my life. I just- I don't know. I feel like I'm never gonna find the right person."

"You're sixteen. Of course you're not gonna find the right person now," Jack told her.

"No, I mean, I feel like I'm _never_ going to find them. What if I keep getting stood up on dates throughout my life? What if I'm just not dateable? What if I'm not marriage material?" Ellie wonder aloud, spilling her fears to her friend.

"Now that's just crazy. Ellie O'brien? Undateable? You're going to find them, El. You can't worry about things like that. They just happen on their own," Jack said, smiling softly.

"I know," Ellie sighed defeated. "I just get really worried sometimes."

Jack nodded, understanding where she was coming from. The only noise in the room was the sound of Steve Rogers infiltrating a German base, coming from his laptop. He thought for a moment.

"Okay, how about we make a pact," he offered. "If neither of us are married by the time we're thirty, we'll marry each other."

"I'm not _that_ desperate."

"Hey! I could be a great husband!"

"I know you could, just not for me," Ellie insisted. "Marrying my best friend? That would be so weird…"

"Think about it. We could get a house outside of Boston and live in a little suburban community, and you could watch Star Wars every night on our flat screen TV," Jack fantasized, painting a mental picture for Ellie.

"We could adopt kids!" Ellie offered excited.

"How many? Boys or girls?"

"Three. Two boys and one girl. That way I can teach her rhythmic gymnastics and then two boys will be able to take you down when you're being annoying," Ellie explained, grinning.

Jack scowled at her. "Fine, fair enough. But I am still teaching them hockey."

"Whatever makes you happy," Ellie paused. "I'm not driving a minivan."

"I would never ask you to do that," Jack said seriously.

She laughed. "I guess growing old together wouldn't be so bad."

If there was one thing Jack was good for, it was cheering her up.

"Alright, we got a deal?"

"Deal."

Jack grinned widely. Then, much to Ellie's horror, spit on his hand and offered it to her. Her eyes widened.

"What? No spit shake?" Jack furrowed his eyebrows. "Oh come on, a spit shake is binding."

Ellie rolled her eyes, "You're such a guy. I am not shaking that hand."

She offered her pinkie finger.

Jack sighed in defeat, wiped his hand on his sweatpants, and offered his other hand up to Ellie. She linked their fingers together and smiled.

"So it's official. See you at the end of the aisle in fourteen years," Jack teased.

"Yeah, right. This is just motivation for me to find my significant other all the much faster," Ellie smirked, sinking back down into the bed.

"Oh so that's how it's gonna be?" Jack lifted an eyebrow, looking down at her.

"That's how it's gonna be."

Jack chuckled and laid back down as well. Ellie latched onto him, demanding their usual platonic-cuddle-session.

As their attention fell back onto the laptop screen, Ellie spoke up one last time.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?" He murmured.

"Thank you."

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